Blog Posts by Chris Morris

The Force is strong with this one. And chatty.

Star Wars: The Old Republic (EA)Already a hit with fans and critics, EA's new massively-multiplayer game Star Wars: The Old Republic has been awarded a Guinness World Record for being the Largest Entertainment Voice Over Project ever. Apparently those Jedi and Sith were a gabby bunch.

All totaled, there's more than 200,000 lines of dialogue in The Old Republic. To put that in perspective, the immense single-player role-playing hit The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, which is packed with yammering characters, only has 60,000 lines of dialogue. The number also trounces anything seen in a television or film project.

The Dark Knight is getting the Lego treatment once again.

Lego Batman 2 (Warner Bros. Interactive)Warner Bros. Interactive has announced that Lego Batman 2 is on the way, with a blocky Batman and Robin hitting store shelves this summer. And they're bringing some super friends — and enemies — along for the ride.

The Joker, of course, will be causing troubles once again, but this time he'll be joined by none other than follicle-challenged villain, Lex Luthor. Batman's allies will include Superman, Wonder Woman and Green Lantern, making Lego Batman 2 something of a mini-Justice League.

Microsoft still isn't talking about the successor to the Xbox 360, but that's not stopping the grapevine from speculating about the new features it will offer.

The company received a patent late last year for a device that would serve as both a game console and a digital video recorder — and that has people wondering if the next Xbox will have an even bigger role in the living room.

The patent, which was granted on Dec. 27, describes the device as one that will let owners record programming while they play a game. And while television shows are certainly included in the mix, they'd also be able to record their game, both local and online.

Anonymous, the hacker group behind a rash of massive security breaches, might be turning its attention back to Sony.

In the fading days of 2011, the loosely collected group released a YouTube video expressing its outrage at Sony's support of SOPA, a controversial piece of legislation aiming to curtail online piracy. That's got some people concerned, since the last time Sony and Anonymous clashed, it opened the doors for the largest data breach in online history.

"Supporting SOPA is like trying to throw an entire company from off a bridge," the group said in its usual bombastic style.

"Your support to the act is a signed death warrant to SONY Company and Associates. Therefore, yet again, we have decided to destroy your network. We will dismantle your phantom from the internet. Prepare to be extinguished. Justice will be swift, and it will be for the people, whether some like it or not. Sony, you have been warned."

The week between Christmas and New Year's Day is gaming nirvana. You've got a stack of holiday games, no pressing responsibilities and Domino's on speed dial. You're all set.

That is, until you get stuck on some ornery puzzle or impossible mission. Forward momentum, gone.

Relax. The internet is here to help.

He might be great at keeping state secrets, but when it comes to the holidays, Barack Obama does a pretty lousy job of maintaining gift-giving surprises.

Photo credit: ReutersThe President did a little Christmas shopping Wednesday -- and brought the press corps along. And it looks like Sasha and Malia will find Just Dance 3 and The Sims 3: Pets under the tree this year.

"In case you all are wondering, Just Dance for the Wii," Obama told the gaggle. "The girls beat me every time on these various dance games. And you guys will never get a picture of me [playing] because I get graded F every time."

Last minute stress test.Christmas is looming and you don't have a gift for the gamer on your list. At this point, heartfelt is pretty much out the window. You just need something to put under the tree.

Last minute gifts tend to be stinkers, though. Combing through the dregs of whatever serious holiday shoppers have left behind usually nets nothing but trouble. And for gamers, that means they're stuck with things like Wii classic controllers and 101-in-1 Sports Party Megamix or PlayStation Move Ape Escape.

You can avoid that trap, though, by thinking digitally. PC and console gamers alike can buy all sorts of awesome games online, and since you probably don't have time to hit up a retail store, it's a great

Sony's next big hope for the handheld gaming market has made its debut in Japan, and while the numbers aren't awful, they aren't exactly stellar, either.

Playstation Vita (Sony)More than 321,000 Vita units were sold in its first two days on store shelves, according to Famitsu. That's a bit shy of launch figures for Nintendo's 3DS (371,000), though it nearly doubles what the original PSP boasted when it went on sale seven years ago.

While some will find the decent numbers encouraging, the launch wasn't entirely smooth. Sony reportedly shipped over 700,000 Vita units to retailers, selling under half of them. Further, a number of early buyers have complained about technical problems with their Vitas, ranging from unresponsive touchscreens to system freezes. Sony quickly responded with a software update and an apology.